Since the Covid-19 pandemic arrived in America, earnings have soared, stock markets have hit records and consumers lucky enough not to have been fired during lockdowns and the recession managed to pile up $2.7 trillion in cash. But after decades of being ignored, the strained job market has enabled blue-collar workers to seek better fortunes as well. Marginalized for decades, organized labor suddenly has some leverage in negotiating wages and benefits. At the other end of the spectrum, America’s 0.1 percent are evaluating how best to give fortunes to their heirs while avoiding billions of dollars in taxes. The White House meanwhile is hunting for taxes, floating ideas like a wealth or stock buyback levy. It’s part of an effort to fund President Joe Biden’s economic agenda while appeasing two increasingly embattled centrists standing in his way. 

Evidence is building that a third shot could help stem transmission of Covid-19 and avert hospitalizations and deaths, but it looks like this winter will still be a tough one for the northern hemisphere. At the same time, much of the world has yet to see a first dose. And the pressure is building on U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is already under fire for being slow to shutter the economy when the pandemic began.

Biden’s plan to decarbonize the fossil fuel-dependent U.S, economy appears to be in disarray. The climate crisis is creating ideal conditions for infectious-disease transmission, and the world’s health-care systems are unprepared. And Bloomberg Green tells how a nation in central Asia has a dirty secret that’s harming the whole planet.

Turkmenistan’s “Gates of Hell,” a crater 70 meters wide created in a drilling accident, has been burning gas for more than 40 years. 

Photographer: Giles Clarke

Crypto went gangbusters this week as investors jumped into the first U.S. Bitcoin exchange-traded fund—but it may be too popular for its own good. Jared Dillian writes in Bloomberg Opinion that the fund has some unique risks that should concern investors. And Jack Dorsey’s cryptic post on Twitter got crypto fans wondering: What does 705742 mean?

More than a year after George Floyd’s murder at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department, the reverberations through the corporate world are still being felt. But “America Inc.” still looks nothing like America itself. There are however signs of improvement: women surpassed 30% of seats on the S&P 500 for the first time. And Latina entrepreneurs are forcing beauty giants to pay attention to one of America’s biggest and increasingly powerful consumer demographics.

Bartending’s best-kept secret is Träkál, a Patagonian brand-gin hybrid from Chile inspired by local corn beer. You’ll pay a pretty penny if you go for white truffles this year, as prices have quadrupled. And Miami’s getting a whole new edge with splashy international openings and high-octane nightspots.

Träkál 

Photographer: Emily Arden Wells

• Big Tech highlights a busy week of earnings.
• U.S. economic growth may have slowed in the third quarter. 
• The U.K. is set to retain deep scars after Wednesday’s budget.
• FDA advisory panel to weigh Pfizer-BioNTech shot for children.
• Biden addresses the Asean business summit.

What a Statue Towering Over the Hudson Means

Jaume Plensa’s massive installation, “Water's Soul, 2020,” sits on the edge of the Hudson River in Jersey City, New Jersey, aiming to inspire global action to protect all water—what the sculptor calls “the most public space in the world.” Depicting the head of a young person with an index finger pressed against her lips and her eyes closed, it’s the most recent example of public art that seeks to encourage action on a social issue.

Water’s Soul, 2020 is a tribute to the Hudson River.

Photographer: Timothy Schenck

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